


Soothing

by BuddyTheMeanPeacock



Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [8]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21967153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddyTheMeanPeacock/pseuds/BuddyTheMeanPeacock
Summary: There was always one thing that never failed to calm Dimitri.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Claude von Riegan, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Drabbles and Oneshots (DimiClaude) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561504
Comments: 3
Kudos: 206





	Soothing

The first time Dimitri hears it was an accident.

He was restless; once again the echoes of those since passed haunted his dreams. It was impossible to escape, chasing him in both sleep and wakefulness, and so he went to the library. If he couldn't sleep, he would do more research on those suspected of causing the death that agonized his family.

He opened the door a crack, and the sound leaked through.

He has heard Annette sing sometimes, when she believed no one could hear her, but her songs were always so cheery. Their melodies were as sweet as the treats she so enjoys. This was different; it was a hum, slow but not melancholic. It reminded him of a lullaby.

He recognized the voice as Claude's.

Dimitri did not recognize the song Claude was humming. It was not any of the few lullabies belonging to Faerghus, and lullaby he was sure it was. While no expert on the nature of songs originating from the Empire, he doubted it was from there either. Leicester, then? 

Ah, it did not matter, truly. What mattered was the sound. Claude's voice was deeper than usual, perhaps to match the tone of the song. Its pace was smooth and slow, akin to a horse's lazy gait across the plains. So different from his usual eccentric personality, curious and mysterious, this Claude was a calm lake, a parent soothing their child to sleep.

Dimitri felt his eyelids droop. He could not read like this. As much as he'd so wanted to look upon this new Claude's face as he hummed this strange tune, he knew such action would've caused the song's abrupt end. He stayed some moments longer, letting the melody wash over him.

Once it ended naturally Dimitri turned from the library door. His mind was at ease, a rare gift he would not squander. He made the long walk back to his second floor dorm room and slept a restful, precious sleep.

\---

He tried to catch Claude purposely after that night, but the golden leader proved hard to pin down. It seemed he entered the library at random intervals, with no recognizable pattern. Dimitri feared that the one night was merely a fluke, a wanton whim of Claude's to read whatever material he felt like in the middle of the night. 

Then one night he cracked open the door, and the melodic voice danced in the air.

It was the same song as the one those many nights ago- a favorite, perhaps? Ah, it mattered not; he closed his eyes and let Claude's voice wrap around him like his father's furs. His body relaxed into the sound, and he allowed a quiet sigh to escape him. How long has it been since he had felt so calm? Since it was the living that captured his mind in its embrace and not the cries and demands of the dead? 

He longed to experience this feeling more. To have the promise of sleep be a nightly oath, and not put in the hands of chance. Maybe… maybe he could ask Claude. He was so confident, perhaps he would not feel embarrassed at the proposal. Perhaps it _was_ possible to have his beautiful voice fend off those unseen by all but Dimitri.

He took a deep breath… and let it out quietly.

No, he could not.

To risk having Claude stop his nightly visits to the library, cease his melodic humming - he could not. Would not. Even if it were only an occasional blessing, it was better than having his mind be trapped by flames and screams with _no_ hope of salvation.

And so it went, Dimitri visiting the library at random times of the night. In all the nights the months provided, those he rediscovered Claude's soothing voice were always filled with blissful, dreamless rest. 

\---

Then the war happened, and the blessings stopped entirely.

Five years of nothing but calls for vengeance, screams of dying men, roars of raging infernos, with nothing to drive them back. Even after the professor found him as he slouched against the wall of the Goddess Tower, after his class returned, after Dedue found them, the dreams persisted. They latch into his mind and rend it into innumerable pieces.

Then they find Claude at Gronder.

They make an alliance, Claude and the professor merging their forces. He joins them in the monastery.

It gives Dimitri a sliver of hope. More than he's had in what feels like a lifetime. He returns to haunting the library at night, praying that he can again hear that which gave him peace. 

Night, after night, after night, he visits and finds nothing. 

One night, when his family was particularly insistent on their demands, upon being greeted once more with silence, he lets out an enraged howl and slams the door shut, popping its hinges and rendering it useless. He leaves and goes for the cathedral, hoping for peace but knowing it was out of reach. 

He sits on a pew and brings his head to his knees. Peace. Just one night. It was all he asked for. He craved it so badly. 

He _needed_ it.

He rises and leaves the cathedral. Outside the hints of morning pepper the sky. He marches on to the dormitories, undeterred by his creeping fatigue. 

For once in his life, fate has mercy; Claude was in the courtyard, alone.

Dimitri's presence shocks Claude; he uses that to set his hands on either side of the shorter man's head, trapping him.

Claude looks up at him. "D-Dimitri-?"

"Make them go away."

Claude tilts his head in confusion. "What-"

"Make them _go away_ ," he repeats. His fingers dig into the stone wall, dragging down markings akin to that of a beast. He swallows and begs, " _Please_ …"

Claude is silent, and fear and dread take ahold of Dimitri, that he may truly never hear that which drives away the endless noise of the fallen, that he was damned to suffer for the rest of his wretched days-

And then he hears it.

Quiet and unsure at first, a familiar tune fills the air between them. Dimitri takes in a breath; Claude must take that as approval, for he grows more confident in his humming, louder and even. 

All else is tuned out. He is deaf to the sounds of the dead's unholy screeches and gusts of tainted wind, blind to the all-consuming flames and piles upon piles of faces. The wall under his hands leaves no impact, and the ground under his feet is air. All that he takes in is the warm, deep sounds of Claude's voice, his small, relaxed smile on his peaceful face.

It was heaven. A true, divine heaven.

Claude continues even as Dimitri wraps his arms around him, the wall too inefficient an anchor. He tightens his hold on his lifeline; he can't let him go. Not again, not _ever_ again.

Too soon the humming stops, and Claude returns Dimitri's embrace. "Did that help any?" he asks him.

He nods into his shoulder, his eye drooping shut.

He hears Claude chuckle. "Then I'll be sure to do it more. Just ask whenever you want it; I'll be sure to deliver."

Dimitri's breath hitches. The promise was a gift from the Goddess Herself, a salvation from the torturous dredges his mind was persistently trapped within. He pulled Claude closer into his chest.

Claude grunted. "Err… Dimitri, I can't breathe-"

"Thank you," Dimitri sobs. " _Thank you."_

Claude is silent once more, a moment passing before he rubs his back. "You look tired, Your Princeliness. Let's get you some shut-eye."

Dimitri nods slowly. For once the idea seemed pleasant.

**Author's Note:**

> Based off this wonderful artpiece by Polochon/Pillow boi! https://twitter.com/Pillow_boi/status/1209262307240488960?s=19
> 
> Thought it was cute so I wrote about it lol


End file.
